Drone

drone
    n 1: stingless male bee in a colony of social bees (especially
         honeybees) whose sole function is to mate with the queen
    2: an unchanging intonation [syn: {monotone}, {drone},
       {droning}]
    3: someone who takes more time than necessary; someone who lags
       behind [syn: {dawdler}, {drone}, {laggard}, {lagger},
       {trailer}, {poke}]
    4: an aircraft without a pilot that is operated by remote
       control [syn: {drone}, {pilotless aircraft}, {radio-
       controlled aircraft}]
    5: a pipe of the bagpipe that is tuned to produce a single
       continuous tone [syn: {drone}, {drone pipe}, {bourdon}]
    v 1: make a monotonous low dull sound; "The harmonium was
         droning on"
    2: talk in a monotonous voice [syn: {drone}, {drone on}]
    

Drone \Drone\ (dr[=o]n), v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Droned}; p. pr. &
   vb. n. {Droning}.] [Cf. (for sense 1) D. dreunen, G.
   dr["o]hnen, Icel. drynja to roar, drynr a roaring, Sw.
   dr["o]na to bellow, drone, Dan. dr["o]ne, Goth. drunjus
   sound, Gr. ? dirge, ? to cry aloud, Skr. dhran to sound. Cf.
   {Drone}, n.]
   1. To utter or make a low, dull, monotonous, humming or
      murmuring sound.
      [1913 Webster]

            Where the beetle wheels his droning flight. --T.
                                                  Gray.
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   2. To love in idleness; to do nothing. "Race of droning
      kings." --Dryden.
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Drone \Drone\, n. [OE. drane a dronebee, AS. dr[=a]n; akin to
   OS. dr[=a]n, OHG. treno, G. drohne, Dan. drone, cf. Gr. ? a
   kind of wasp, dial. Gr. ? drone. Prob. named fr. the droning
   sound. See {Drone}, v. i.]
   1. (Zool.) The male of bees, esp. of the honeybee. It gathers
      no honey. See {Honeybee}.
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            All with united force combine to drive
            The lazy drones from the laborious hive. --Dryden.
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   2. One who lives on the labors of others; a lazy, idle
      fellow; a sluggard.
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            By living as a drone,to be an unprofitable and
            unworthy member of so noble and learned a society.
                                                  -- Burton.
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   3. That which gives out a grave or monotonous tone or dull
      sound; as:
      (a) A drum. [Obs.] Halliwell.
      (b) The part of the bagpipe containing the two lowest
          tubes, which always sound the key note and the fifth.
          [1913 Webster]

   4. A humming or deep murmuring sound.
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            The monotonous drone of the wheel.    --Longfellow.
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   5. (Mus.) A monotonous bass, as in a pastoral composition.
      [1913 Webster]
    

drone
 n.

   Ignorant sales or customer service personnel in computer or
   electronics superstores. Characterized by a lack of even superficial
   knowledge about the products they sell, yet possessed of the
   conviction that they are more competent than their hacker customers.
   Usage: "That video board probably sucks, it was recommended by a drone
   at Fry's" In the year 2000, their natural habitats include Fry's
   Electronics, Best Buy, and CompUSA.
    

237 Moby Thesaurus words for "drone":
      Indian file, accompaniment, alliteration, alto, array,
      articulation, assonance, bagpipe, bagpipes, bank, baritone, bass,
      basso continuo, basso ostinato, bassus, bee, beggar, birr, blubber,
      bombilate, bombinate, boom, bourdon, bum, bumble, bumblebee,
      bummer, burden, burr, buzz, cadger, canto, cantus,
      cantus figuratus, cantus planus, catena, catenation, chain,
      chain reaction, chaining, chanter, chest voice, chime,
      clockwork regularity, coloratura, concatenation, connection,
      consecution, constancy, continue the same, continuo, continuum,
      contralto, cornemuse, coupon clippers, course, cycle, daily round,
      dawdle, dawdler, descant, descent, dingdong, doodlesack,
      drag along, drag on, drone bass, droning, endless belt,
      endless round, even pace, even tenor, falsetto, figured bass, file,
      filiation, foot-dragger, freeloader, gabble, gamut, gibber,
      gibbering, goldbrick, goof-off, gradation, ground bass, harping,
      head voice, honeybee, hornet, hum, humdrum, idle rich,
      invariability, jabber, jibber, jingle, jingle-jangle, laggard,
      lallygag, laze, leisure class, lie-abed, line, lineage, lingerer,
      loaf, loiter, loiterer, loll, lounge, lounge lizard,
      lumpen proletariat, maunder, maundering, mendicant, monologue,
      monotone, monotonousness, monotony, moocher, mouth, mouthing,
      mumble, mumbling, murmur, murmuring, musette, mutter, muttering,
      near rhyme, nexus, nonworker, orderliness, panhandler, parasite,
      part, pendulum, periodicity, persist, pipes, pitter-patter,
      plain chant, plain song, plenum, plodder, powder train, prevail,
      prick song, procrastinator, progression, purr, queen, queen bee,
      queue, range, rank, recurrence, regularity, rentiers,
      repeated sounds, repetitiousness, repetitiveness, reticulation,
      rhyme, rotation, round, routine, row, run, run through, sameliness,
      sameness, scale, sequence, series, single file, singsong,
      slant rhyme, sleepyhead, slow goer, slow-foot, slowbelly, slowpoke,
      slug, sluggard, smoothness, snail, sob, soprano, sordellina,
      speak incoherently, spectrum, spiv, splutter, sponger, sputter,
      stale repetition, stick-in-the-mud, string, strum, succession,
      susurrate, susurration, swath, tedium, tenor, the unemployable,
      the unemployed, thorough bass, thread, thrum, tier, tortoise,
      train, treadmill, treble, trot, undersong, undeviation,
      undifferentiation, union pipes, unnecessary repetition,
      unvariation, voce, voce di petto, voce di testa, voice, voice part,
      wasp, whir, whisper, whispering, whiz, windrow, worker,
      yellow jacket